Walnut End Grain Cheese Block

I normally saw lumber and build furniture, but I got in the shop recently and built some little odds and ends that I had been wanting to make for a while. I’ve already listed my tortilla press, but here is an end grain block I made as well. I really like the contrast of the white sapwood with the chocolate heartwood. I just love black walnut!

This block was made out of some black walnut that I had in the shop that I rescued from a burn pile! I glued up the widths, surfaced them down, then cut the glued up panel into short lengths. I then glued these pieces together in the pattern you see (sandwiched between wax paper to protect my clamps/bench of course!). The blank was then surfaced smooth and cut to shape on a shop made bandsaw circle jig. I used a 1/4” roundover in the router table to ease the edges, and then followed up with a good hand sanding. I melted paraffin and mineral oil together and applied the blend using a brush and a hair drier to allow the wood to soak it up. It’s amazing how much end grain absorbs! The result is a smooth and attractive (IMHO) block that can serve as either a cheese block or a cutting block. I’ve got this one on ebay to see how it goes.